With the much anticipated release of ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ approaching I think its a good time to show you some of the London filming locations for the two Christopher Nolan produced films which preceded it. Both films scored very favourably in terms of the critical reception with the majority of film fans preferring ‘The Dark Knight‘ but I’m actually a slightly bigger fan of ‘Batman Begins‘ as this was the re-boot which really changed things with a strong all-star cast and a dramatic intense soundtrack. ‘The Dark Knight‘ continued the fine work and hopefully the new film won’t disappoint either.

The Arkham Asylum in ‘Batman Begins‘ is the National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway on Burtonhole Lane and the interior stairwell invaded by a SWAT team and a load of bats on 91 minutes is St Pancras Chambers. It is perhaps more famous as being the same stairs where the video for the Spice Girls debut single ‘Wannabe‘ was filmed!

Gotham City Police Station is the first floor offices of the Farmiloe Building (below) at 28-36 St John Street in Clerkenwell. This interior location was used in ‘Batman Begins‘ and ‘The Dark Knight‘ and has been used once again for ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘. Gary Oldman’s character Sergeant (later Lieutenant) Gordon works here in the Christopher Nolan trilogy and the director even used the place in ‘Inception‘ as the pharmacy.

The DMS Watson Library (below) in Malet Place is the Gotham Print Room and the Medawar Building (below) within the same complex is the exterior of the Gotham Police Department HQ.

The city of Gotham State Courts where Bruce Wayne goes to kill the man who murdered his parents is Senate House (below) at the University of London on Malet Street. However, Wayne never gets the chance to go through with his revengeful act as on 25 minutes one of Falcone’s men shoots him first. The same location is used in the sequel as The Joker threatens the city of Gotham.

The exterior of the restaurant where Bruce Wayne (with two babes on his arm) bumps into Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) on 70 minutes in ‘Batman Begins‘ is the architectural wonder that is the eyelid entrance of CityPoint (above) on Ropemaker Street near Moorgate. However, the restaurant interior was filmed at Plateau in Canada Place, Canada Square.

Marco Pierre White’s Criterion restaurant (above) at 224 Piccadilly near Piccadilly Circus is supposedly owned by Bruce Wayne and is where he finds ex lover Rachel (this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) having dinner with Harvey Dent.

The two photos below are from London Film Museum on Southbank with the one on the right being the batsuit worn by Christian Bale in ‘Batman Begins‘.